Germany’s factory orders fell by 3.8% month-on-month in April 2026, wiping out a downwardly revised 4.5% gain in March and coming in well below market expectations for a 1.2% decline. This was the second monthly drop so far this year and underscored softer demand, particularly in key industrial sectors such as the automotive industry (-5.3%), electrical equipment (-16.3%), and mechanical engineering (-7.4%).
Orders weakened across all major product categories, with consumer goods down 6.7%, intermediate goods 4.4% lower, and capital goods declining by 2.9%. Foreign demand fell 4.2%, driven mainly by an 11.1% slump in orders from the euro area, while orders from non-euro area markets edged up 0.8%. Domestic orders also contracted, decreasing by 2.9%.
Excluding large-scale contracts, factory orders were still down 3.8% in April. On a less volatile three-month comparison, new orders in the February–April period were 3.1% lower than in the previous three months. However, when large orders are excluded, new business increased by 3.5% over the same period, indicating that underlying demand was somewhat more robust than the headline figures suggest.
